Linux Conquers the Canaries

Many Canaries' schools and the major universities all use Kubuntu – a derivate of Ubuntu which uses the KDE desktop. According to the project manager the schools are using Meduxa, which is based on Kubuntu (Breezy Badger), KDE 3.5.6 and a selection of educational software including vocabulary trainers, astronomy software and calculation tools. Canaries' universities use Bardinux, derivative of Kubuntu Feisty Fawn with various add-on packages from various fields of science.

Thus far, 300 schools have deployed Linux, with another 100 to follow by the end of the year. All told, 8000 computers will be running the free operating system on the islands. All 1100 state schools will be moving to the Meduxa operating system by the first half of 2009.

Related content

The first joint conference with KDE and Gnome is set to kick off on July 3rd on the island vacation destination Grand Canary. Richard Stallman is expected to attend for the opening of Guadec and Akademy.

Based on the release policy of Ubuntu and its KDE derivative Kubuntu, the next version of Kubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) scheduled for mid January would be a Long Term Support (LTS) version with three years support. Now, Kubuntu's chief developer Jonathan Riddell has announced that there will not be an LTS version; instead Kubuntu is relying on the KDE 4 desktop update.

The arrival of Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” signaled a new era for the whole family of distributions that use Ubuntu as a base. Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Mythbuntu, and other Ubuntu derivatives soon followed with new releases of their own projects.

From now on, the schools in Germany's Rhineland-Palatinate federal state will be running Skolelinux on their computers, based on a decision made a year ago. The project is now announcing its next phase.